The Other Foster
by Arasinyah
Summary: She couldn't imagine that conversation going well.'Hey Jane you know that paramilitary organisation you hate because they stole all your research? Well I work for them as an undercover agent'
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Rewiting the whole thing.**

* * *

Her limbs quivered and she wrapped her arms around her middle to disguise the shaking but her mouth betrayed it anyway. Her voice hitched as she gave her statement in broken, terrible Japanese to the police officer and exasperated, the officer's shoulders drooped and he waved the job off to a younger officer who looked at her in awe. His senior officer called them stupid airheads in the language he thought she couldn't understand and went back to comparing notes with his partner, clearly assuming that neither she nor the Polish model she had come to the party with had the ability to give an accurate description of what had happened.

It didn't take long for the junior officer to reach the same conclusion as his seniors, that they were barking up the wrong tree and they were allowed to leave without further inquiries. They had bigger problems on their plate, like finding out exactly what had caused the important rich man who was also deeply involved in illegal weapons trade to die so suddenly.

She knew what they would find. The idiot had opted for the liver of fugu of course. It was supposed to be the most poisonous and most tasty part of the blowfish and a man like Corvin would opt for it. It was simple psychology, the man had a God complex, he thought he was invincible and he wanted to prove it to his business partners. It was pure male posturing at its finest and it had gotten him killed.

That's what they would find.

SHIELD was very good with undetectable poisons with a very short half life. A few hours was all it took for the toxin to be completely broken down into bits and pieces that were found in everyone and were completely normal.

No one would know any better.

"Target deposed." She said as her encrypted phone rang.

"_We have a problem."_ When The Black Widow answered her instead of her handler, Smith, she knew something was very much wrong.

"When's the debriefing?"

"_No time, you have to report to London. It's your sister."_

She stopped mid step and only just thought of crossing the road before continuing the conversation.

"What's wrong?"

"_Do you remember Erik Selvig?"_

Of course she remembered Erik, he had given Jane and her several spontaneous lectures on astrophysics that had gone over her head and that she now used as a lullaby.

Brilliant scientist, terrible professor.

"Yes."

"_He contacted your sister and asked her to come to London to look at some data he'd found."_

"That's not surprising."

"_He was found at Stonehenge naked and running around with expensive scientific equipment."_

"That's a bit more surprising. BAC?"

"_Nil."_

"Really?"

A lot more surprising. She'd expected him to be at least a little bit drunk to go streaking at a historical monument.

"_Report to the London headquarters as soon as you land. Apparently they have some presents for you."_

"But those guys are idiots."

"_Really?"_ Natasha sounded amused. That either meant that a disaster of monumental proportions was coming, or that she was going to kill someone in a very painful way. Either one was equally possible.

"They keep on trying to recreate Mjolnir. I tried telling them that tasers and lightning rods already exist but they didn't quite listen."

"_Well, I think you're going to like what they've got for you."_

"Is it a big gun?"

"_Let's just say it packs a punch."_

Alice Foster, sister of a certain Jane Foster squealed in glee. She loved getting presents.

* * *

"Whoa, who's the hottie?" Darcy muttered to Ian as they waited with the police.

They had watched as a tall blonde model type had driven up in a sleek black sports car and gone up to one of the officers. The two talked and eventually the officer pointed to them and with a smile at him the model type began walking up to Darcy and Ian.

"Hi, you must be Darcy." She said.

"Yes, I am." Darcy said putting her hand out for a handshake, her eyes never leaving the mass of straight platinum blonde hair that tumbled down the new girl's shoulders right down to her elbows. "That is one hell of a blonde."

"Straight from the bottle too, had to dye it for a photo-shoot. Still, doesn't seem too bad does it?" The glamazon she had correctly categorised as a model lifted a strand and held it up to eye level and screwed up her mouth.

"You look like the Khaleesi." Her straight dark brows contrasted with her pale hair beautifully and Darcy remembered her own time being blonde and sighed, depressed. It had not gone well and she had had to hack her hair off to a short bob that she could not pull off. Well, she could but it only seemed to attract the really strange artistic types.

"That's probably the look they wanted. Too bad the bleach job doesn't come with a hunk of Dothraki Man Warrior." Model type waggled her eyebrows. Darcy liked Model type.

Darcy grinned like an idiot before shaking it off. "Wait umm, who exactly are you?"

"Oh sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, Alice Foster, Jane's little sister."

"Oh. Ohh you're here because she disappeared? Wow, these British police work fast, I didn't think they'd be calling her emergency contact so soon." It had only been four hours since Jane disappeared and even then only one hour since she'd actually called the police. Jane would have killed her if she got the authorities stomping over her discovery but four hours was four hours too long. "She mentioned having a sister vaguely, I didn't think you were real."

Normally Darcy would have gotten suspicious that someone claiming to be Jane's sister was talking to them, she hadn't gotten her iPod back from SHIELD yet after all (those bastards) but this close she could see a lot of resemblance between Jane and Alice so she accepted it at face value. They had the same angled eyebrows and jaw line although Alice had a more upturned nose and her eyes were grey, not brown like Jane. She looked more like Jane's mother whom they had met a few weeks ago and by now Darcy was pretty sure she was Jane's sister. Besides, it wasn't like they were doing anything besides waiting.

"I've only flown in a few days ago or I would have caught up with you all. And I'm not exactly her emergency contact, I have a police friend and told her to call me if anything with Jane Foster came up. Of course I always thought it would be because she hit someone with her car not because she up and disappeared. I know she's here because of something Erik told her and given what happened on the news, I got worried."

"Yeah we don't let Jane drive anymore." Darcy nodded sagely. Intern may have thought she was a terrible driver but she had nothing on Jane. And then she realised that Alice had said something about the news. "Wait, what news?"

"Uhh, you haven't seen it?"

"Seen what?"

Alice took her phone out and within seconds Darcy and Intern huddled around it to see footage of a naked Erik running around Stonehenge with equipment that would probably fascinate Jane. The three who were actually watching it were far more interested in the naked man with a crazed look on his face.

An awkward silence followed.

"Well...That explains why Erik didn't pick up any of her calls."

Alice snorted. "Yeah, doesn't look like he had any place to put his mobile."

She was funny and the discovery delighted Darcy. She was definitely interning for the wrong Foster. Sure, working with Jane meant meeting Thor who was buff as hell (and realising aliens were real but after New York, everyone knew that) but Alice probably knew her own fair share of pretty boys with muscles.

"I still don't understand where Dr Foster went." The Intern looked at the building with a confused look. Darcy didn't blame him, in her long time with Jane she had also faced plenty of occasions in which questions that had no answers began popping up. It was very annoying and Darcy had given up trying to find the answer to them, she'd leave it to Jane and Erik. She was just glad she'd been bumped up from unpaid intern who needed credits to graduate to paid intern who had graduated, it made retail therapy much easier.

"Well the keys did-" She stopped mid-sentence, not sure if telling Alice about the mysterious incident with the hole in space and gravity not working was a good idea. "That's why we're here I guess. I'm sure the police will find her."

"It looks like we'll be here for a while." Alice sighed and Ian looked at Darcy in askance.

"Yup." The three looked at one another before settling back, leaning against the now useless, keyless car.

"So," Alice started, "Want to watch funny cat videos on Youtube?"

Definitely working for the wrong sister.

* * *

Jane pulled the jacket closer around her. She felt...odd. Cold and hot all at the same time but not like she had a fever. Her insides felt warm but her skin felt cold and she rushed out the warehouse, unnerved by its emptiness. Where were Darcy, Darcy's intern (what was his name again?) and the kids?

Her heart sank as she took in the cars with their chequered blue and yellow, silently cursing Darcy for calling the police. Darcy, who was coincidentally running towards her calling her name, sounding distressed.

"Jane!"

"Tell me you didn't call the cops." Jane said, calm and cool, hating that she sounded so harsh but unable to stop it either.

The last time a government agency had walked into her workspace they had seized all her equipment and her life time's work, her father's lifetime work as well and she couldn't bear the thought of that happening all over again.

"What was I supposed to do?" Darcy wasn't reacting the way Jane thought she would, she wasn't taking it lying down, she wasn't as chilled out as she usually was and alarm bells started ringing in her head but she continued on, relentless.

"_Not_ call the police?"

"I was freaking out-"

"You call the cops, they call the feds, next thing you know we have SHIELD crawling all over Area 51-ing the place."

"Jane-"

"We had a stable gravitation anomaly, we had unimpeded access, our only competition was ten years old!" This was huge, this was exciting, the very fabric of the universe seemed to be thinning out, why on Earth would Jane want others crawling all over it turning it into a freakshow when they couldn't even understand what this was?

"Jane!" Darcy said firmly. "You were gone for five hours."

"What?"

Before she could begin to comprehend the thought she saw a flash of blue in the corner of her eyes and before long found herself staring at her baby sister. Alice was clutching a blue umbrella with little ice cream cones all over it, just like the one Jane had given to her for her first day of Kindergarten and she was overcome by the feeling of affection.

She hadn't seen her baby sister in so long!

"What's wrong with your hair?!" Jane cried out even as she tugged her down for a hug.

"She spilled gorgeous all over it." Darcy replied instead. "When I went blonde I had to hack the whole thing off, so many split ends."

"Right? It is so hard to get a good colourist!" Alice commiserated before the smile, that had been nervous to begin with, fell away. She tucked away the umbrella and Jane realised quite suddenly that while it was pouring cats and dogs all around them, there was no rain anywhere near her. "So, you noticed the little force field you've got going on." Alice said shakily.

"But this...what's-?!" She couldn't wrap her head around it yet, especially as thunder rumbled and she chose to focus on the fact that her sister was here instead. "I thought you were in Tokyo! And aren't you eating anything, you look so thin!"

Jane fussed, smoothing a hand over Alice's brow, mentally cringing at how far up it was. Just her luck that she was the only short one in their family. Usually she didn't remember that as much since Darcy was around the same height as her but Alice always found a way to make her feel like a Lilliputian, the high heels she was wearing then only adding to it.

"I was, flew in when Mom called saying you were here. It took a while to get some free time, I had a backlog of assignments. And hello, you're one to talk, Darcy tells me you eat nothing but ice cream these days."

"Oh right for the model-y thing."

Jane had never understood why her baby sister had gone into modelling. It had started as a way to pay off student loans but soon Alice had dropped out of law school to focus on her modelling career and it had rankled Jane.

"Yes the model-y thing," Alice said patiently and whipped her head around for a second. "Jane what happened? You disappeared for five hours, do you remember anything that happened? Or why this weird no rain over you thing is happening?"

"No I-," Jane looked around just as puzzled as her sister but certain that this was related to the strange red light in the stone and saw standing a bit away, Thor. His red cape fluttered lightly and she was struck dumb at the sight. She walked towards him as if pulled by a string. Behind her she heard vague squeals from Darcy and Alice and in the back of her mind it registered that the 'force field' had moved with her and the rain had suddenly drenched the two.

There were far too many reunions happening in this one day, she thought as she walked up to him, the anger of all the past two years suddenly at the forefront, compounded by the weird feeling in her body and the fact that her vision seemed to be tinged with a blue light.

"Jane-" Her name sounded so good from his lips but Jane was on a mission and without letting him continue her hand raised of its own accord, whipping across his cheek.

Damn but that felt good.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:Rewriting the story.**

* * *

It was hard enough keeping Jane out of trouble, she could think back to several occasions when Jane's research had ended up nearly killing her. Hell, Alice had grabbed her by the scruff of her shirt just as she was about to step into New York traffic once, lost in her radiation readings from after the Battle of New York. Now that the dude from the warrior community with a magic hammer was back into her life, it was going to be absolute hell keeping Jane out of trouble.

Then there was the fact that Jane still didn't know that Alice worked for SHIELD. She couldn't imagine that conversation going well.

'_Hey Jane you know that paramilitary organisation you hate because they stole all your research? Well I work for them as an undercover agent! And you know how they found Mjolnir when Thor first came to Earth so quickly and ended up taking all your equipment? That was because I asked a few agent friends who were working in New Mexico to keep an eye on you to make sure you stayed alive.'_

That would be just the icing on the cake that was this day. Jane might actually see modelling as a step up from working for SHIELD, that conversation was bound to be terrifying. And she just wasn't the kind of person who dealt with Jane being angry at her, being irrationally angry was Alice's job.

It was a long wait for them as they stood there with the police who were still making inquiries. While Darcy and Ian answered a few questions from the police who were conducting a search of the premises, Alice reported back to SHIELD telling them everything she had found which was very little.

Darcy had chosen not to tell her anything but the children that Alice had found loitering in a building nearby had answered her questions after enough persuasion. And while Alice didn't quite understand why all this was happening the what of it was pretty clear.

Gravitational anomalies had occurred, made things float or disappear and one of the many things that had disappeared just happened to be Jane. As well as the keys to the van that Darcy claimed she 'just couldn't find'.

This was not her forte by any means. Assasinations, interrogations and legal smackdowns were what she did, not wormholes and aliens.

Alice just could not catch a break. She hadn't even had time to recover from the jet lag when she got a call from Natasha saying that Jane was missing, then when she finally got to where Jane was last seen she turned up out of the blue only to have some weird voodoo force shield around her and then to top it all off, the Space Viking reappeared. Honestly, the man (alien?) had been nothing but trouble since the second he had fallen to Earth, every single thing that had gone wrong since then could be traced back to that very point and of course joy of all joys, her sister was dating that guy.

Why did Jane have such terrible choice in men? Really truly terrible, honestly. And it was no use trying to talk to her about it, no because Jane had to get ridiculously defensive about every damn thing and their arguments always ended the same way.

'_Alice, the heart wants what the heart wants.'_

'_Your heart is an idiot with masochistic tendencies!'_

And then someone would storm off. And here Alice had thought that Jane's streak of idiots would end with Donald, surely she couldn't top that, but no she somehow found a way to top that by falling for a Viking God figure whom she'd only known for three days. It was like her stupid heart knew that there wasn't anyone on Earth who could surpass Donald and found the Alien form another world.

Jane running out of the very same place she'd disappeared from was unexpected. As was the argument she had with Darcy and her before running off to Thor, which brought multiple questions to Alice's mind.

Why was he here now? After a good two years he suddenly found the time for Jane, coincidentally just as Jane managed to attain the ability to repel rain?

"What do you think they're talking about?" Alice asked Darcy as they watched Thor and Jane talk after the second slap.

She and Darcy watched as the two got closer and closer with each word and then Thor's hand was all over Jane's neck and they were leaning in closer and closer just about to kiss.

"Yeah, no, that's not happening on my watch. Not while I'm standing here soaking wet and the cops have been questioning me about what I was doing trespassing on private property all while she was off who knows where." Darcy said and ran off to interrupt them. Alice knew she liked that girl for a reason and it wasn't just for her perfectly winged eyeliner either. "Hey, is this you?" asked Darcy, gesturing at the pouring skies with her elbows. Her jacket was held aloft over her head she interrupted their moment with no qualms, Alice close behind her, under her umbrella.

She had wondered about that as well, having been briefed on Thor's 'abilities' by Agent Romanoff but it was London after all, when was it not raining? Abruptly the rain stopped and Darcy pulled the jacket she was holding over her head down around her shoulders and Alice put the small umbrella away.

"Umm we're kind of in the middle of something here." Jane said, gruffly. She must have really wanted to make out with him. Absently Alice thought that if she'd just listen to their mom take her advice and date more, Jane wouldn't be quite so frustrated.

"Umm, I'm pretty sure we are getting arrested." Darcy said.

They weren't really even without SHIELD having her back Alice had enough contacts to have any charges as weak as trespassing dropped especially since there was no indicator that this was private property in the first place.

"Hold that thought." Jane told Thor and began to rush away before backtracking, "Oh and Alice this is Thor, Thor this is Alice, my sister." And then she ran away again leaving the two women with the apparent God of Thunder.

"I did not know you had one." He told her retreating back. Alice didn't think she even heard it.

"Look at you, still all muscle-y and everything." Darcy touched his armour."How's space?"

"Space is fine."

Alice stepped in closer to him, thanking her heels for giving her the height she needed, elevating her 5'7" height to a good 6 feet and she glared at him.

"So, you're the one who's in a pseudo relationship with my sister. And hasn't visited in well over a year."

"I am-"

"I've read the legends and the stories. I hope they aren't true because if they are, I will do everything in my power to break you two up. And I have a lot of power over Jane."

"She never mentioned you before." He stepped in closely, almost threatening and Alice snorted.

"Funny, I didn't think you got a lot of chance to talk in the three days you were here. I thought you spent most of that time breaking into secure facilities, or getting drunk with Erik, not exchanging heart warming stories about your personal lives." Her voice was caustic but still not caustic enough. There was not enough acid in the world to properly exhibit her dislike of this situation and the person who had, in her opinion, caused all of it.

"I assure you I have only the best of intentions with Lady Jane."

"I've heard that before and it was a lie then as well."

He stepped forward with a frown.

"You question me-"

He was interrupted when a strange sound filled the air and they all were thrown back. Thor, who had been facing the side Jane was on and seen what had happened, had thrown himself in front of Darcy and Alice as a shield and they were unharmed but Jane lay on the ground, at the epicentre of the sudden wave of energy. Car alarms rang through the air as their windows lay in shards all around them and crunched under their feet as they tried to find their bearings.

"Jane?" Thor said rushing to her and crouched by her side. "Are you alright?"

"Stay here, alright? If anyone asks, tell them you were knocked out and didn't see anything." Alice told Darcy and ran to Jane's side. There was a Quinjet on standby and the police officers may have been armed but they would be easy enough to take down and get Jane away to safety.

But Alice was reluctant to do that. All her respect for SHIELD aside she knew that their policy towards anyone displaying abilities that reached beyond the range of normal was aggressive to say the least and if Jane fell into their clutches while still in this strange state where she sent out waves of angry energy, Alice would have no say over what would happen to her.

"What just happened?" Jane mumbled and her head lolled to the side loosely. Thor helped her up from one side while Alice held her other, putting her arm across Jane's shoulders and around her waist as support.

"Place your hands on your head and step back." The cop held out his hand in front of him, his body language at odds with his words and he went completely ignored.

"This woman is unwell." Thor said, tilting Jane's face to look at her.

"She's dangerous." The cop said and Thor seemed to get angry.

He, of course, had no idea that after the events in New York, the mere possibility of magic or anything that couldn't be seen, any hint of Otherness was now treated with a lot more caution and fear than usual. Aliens were suddenly real and that scared people.

"So am I." He said dramatically, the wind picking up out of nowhere and Alice wrapped my arm around her tighter. Jane could barely stand up and between what had just happened and the police being so aggressive, Alice wouldn't have been surprised if she fainted.

"Requesting armed response officers to scene." The cop was properly terrified now, not that it mattered.

"Hold on to me." Said Thor, apparently forgetting that Alice was there even as he pulled Jane close and her sister moved forward along with her.

"What are you doing?" Even Jane was confused but instead of answering her, he turned to Alice.

"You might want to let go of her." He said calmly and she snorted in response, tightening her hold on Jane who settled her face in the crook of Alice's neck sandwiched between the two.

"Oh I'm not letting her out of my sight, not after what I just saw."

"I need to protect her."

"She's my _sister_, she has been mine to protect for longer than you have known of her existence." She growled out and he frowned but eventually a look of understanding dawned on him as he realised that she was not going to let this go. "Where she goes, I go."

He looked up and she held on to Jane tighter, his other arm, the one clutching Mjolnir coming around her and she winced as the hammer dug into her shoulder. Under their feet red lines began to span out, seemingly burnt into the Earth, a rainbow hued light surrounded them and suddenly they were moving. There was no understanding of how or why but they were moving through Space with a capital 'S'. From behind the glowing rainbow light surrounding them they saw stars rushing past them glowing bright, nebulas and the kind of thing that Alice had only ever seen play out on a screen in front of their very eyes before finally they came to a halt, Thor guiding them so they stepped out and landed right on their feet.

"We have to do that again." Jane was smiling like Alice hadn't seen her do since back when their Dad was still alive and even though Thor was a Space Viking and dangerous, she knew she was going to let Jane continue on, in what to her seemed to be, the long distance relationship from hell. If he made her sister that happy Alice didn't really think she could object much. But that didn't mean he was off the hook, he would still have to behave and prove himself capable of treating Jane right and at the moment when they were still strangers Alice simply couldn't trust him to do that. And then there was the fact that there was some strange power that had latched on to Jane that seemed not unlike magic. "Hi." Jane said and Alice noticed the man standing there with a sword in a machine.

That's how strange this place was, swords were being used to activate machines. Couldn't they just press a button or something?

"Welcome to Asgard." The man in the helmet said and smiled and Alice let out a silent curse upon realising where they were.

Fury was going to demand a really long report on this.


	3. Chapter 3

"Heimdall, we need to get Jane to the healers immediately, there is something-" Said Thor, his already loud voice booming in the silence, amplified by the shape of the observatory where they were standing. Heimdall stepped off the platform and walked towards them.

"I anticipated the need and called for a ship."

"Ship?" When Alice thought of ships she thought of giant hulking rickety tubs of metal. That and the Titanic which had sunk. The concept of transporting Jane who was still not feeling that well to a 'healer' in a ship did not appeal and it must have shown on her face as Heimdall smiled at her in response.

Heimdall smiled at them and for all its kindness there was an underlying amusement to it that had her brow twitching in some unnamed emotion.

"A ship unlike any you've seen before Lady Alice."

"You know my name?"

"I have seen you upon occasion with Lady Jane although you did not know of it."

She had had enough brushes with stalkers to know that that did not sound like a good thing. "I'm hoping someone can explain how privacy laws work on Asgard to me?"

Part of her was very certain that the answer to that would be that since all citizens were subjects of a monarchy, it meant there would be no privacy. Especially in such a warrior centred culture as it seemed to be, everyone would be watched for signs of treason. Thor's incredibly confused look did nothing to abate her fears.

"It _is_ kind of creepy." Jane said hesitantly and did something normal for once and edged away from the dude who'd all but admitted to watching her 24/7 for Thor's sake. Alice worked for SHIELD and even she was creeped out by it.

"Were it not for Heimdall's surveillance I would not have known you needed me." Thor explained, all grave and serious and she could see Jane melting. Alice just really wanted to slap the back of his head.

Dumbass.

She wouldn't though, not because Jane was clearly head over heels for him but because...well he was a prince of this Realm. While she could count on the legal systems to take her side on Earth especially with SHIELD pressurising them, on Asgard she had no idea how this would be seen. As a hostile attack perhaps and she couldn't afford that, not while Jane was hurt and not while she didn't have a way of getting back home on her own.

"The ship is here." Heimdall noted as a whooshing sound came from outside the observatory and he led them out through the other end of the Bifrost observatory which led onto a rainbow road, the motif repeating itself .Off to the side a ship was moored and as she drank in its sight Alice realised that he was right when he said it was a ship unlike anything she'd seen.

"You said ship but what you really meant was speedboat with wings."

"Do we have to take this? I mean isn't there a road we could take or-?" Jane looked at the ship nervously.

Jane was not fond of ships. The last time they'd gone sailing was on a yacht was when their mother's new boyfriend had taken the three women out on a 'bonding' trip where he then proposed and got turned down. Their mother and the boyfriend had then spent the rest of the time fighting while the ship was in open water and Jane had spent most of her time blowing chunks all over the side. Still it was strange that travelling via Bifrost left her almost euphoric while a ship made her sick.

"It would take too long to go to the Healers by road and time is short." Said Thor, holding out his hand for Jane to take. He helped her delicately get onto the speedboat with wings and Jane clung on to him a bit more than Alice would have liked but mentally she convinced herself it was fine. For all that it had been two years since they'd met each other it was still a pretty new relationship. As long as they didn't just start making out in front of her she'd be fine.

Alice however, didn't get any such help since the two were lost with each other and the boatman was busy at the control. Consequently she stumbled her way onto the floating speedboat, nearly falling down when it didn't sway under her weight like she expected it to and before they knew it we were off again.

The ship flew over the city of Asgard with all its golden spires and they caught a brief glimpse of the palace which looked not unlike golden pipes from a church organ, before turning into a valley. In the middle of it, there was a tall slim building with rounded edges and as the boat circled it, it became apparent that that was to be their destination.

"Is it just me or does that look like a golden dild-"

"Alice!" Said Jane and Alice held up her hands.

"I'm just saying."

"What? What does it look like?" Thor asked, confused and the two sisters exchanged glances.

"Nothing." They chorused with practised innocence that fooled no one and the boat moored itself along the side of the building. Thor led them at a brisk pace, rushing through halls before coming to a stop in front of a woman with brown hair, blue eyes and the look of a person who was used to dealing with idiots. Their mother often wore that exact same face.

"Eir, I am in need of your expertise." Thor said gravely before waving a hand in Jane's direction. "She is unwell."

Eir pulled an expression as if laughing and frowning at the same time.

"Not in the normal human way either, anytime anyone touches her in an aggressive way this weird energy bursts out of her." Alice added and as understanding dawned on Eir it seemed she had guessed at her reservations correctly.

Saying someone is unwell was the same as saying they were a bit under the weather and it does not usually merit a journey to an unknown world after all.

"Come with me." They followed her to a room, dark except for the dim light of fiery brackets on the wall. It seemed utterly medieval and yet when Jane was asked to lie down on the weird machine in the middle of the room, strange glowing particles appeared in waving lines over her in something that seemed decidedly more hi-tech than anything Alice or Jane had ever seen.

There was a dichotomy to Asgard that Alice just couldn't reconcile. The people were practically medieval and the technology was out of a Victorian's dream of the future.

Attendants scurried around to take notes on what they were seeing while one in particular stopped to stand beside Thor and Alice.

"What's that?" Jane said, lifting a hand, as always enthralled by technology.

"Be still." Eir chided, making adjustments in the glowing dust and a projection of Jane's body rimmed in the particles hovered over her. Thor, who had more experience with the device, had apparently come to some realisation and whispered to the assistant in a low voice so as not to scare Jane.

"This is not of Earth. What is it?"

"We do not know." Alice's head whipped towards the assistant at the tightly worded statement. "But she will not survive the amount of energy surging within her."

Even as Alice took a sharp breath she was confused. They did not know what it was and yet they somehow knew that the energy was destructive. How could they make such a conclusion? Most energies could be dispersed as per what meagre science Alice knew so what made this so different that it would destroy her and how had they guessed at the qualities of it without knowing it?

"That's a quantum field generator isn't it?" Said Jane in tones of rapture. Alice was certain she had forgotten about the weird thing in her, she was far more interested in this world they were suddenly in.

"It's a soul forge." Eir said.

"Does a soul forge transfer molecular energy from one place to another?" Jane replied, just as snobbish and they had the pleasure of seeing Eir surprised.

"Yes."

Jane nodded knowingly. "Quantum Field Generator."

"My words are mere noises to you that you ignore them completely?"A new voice joined them and Alice stepped in closer to Jane on the table sensing that some drama was about to occur given the way Thor was looming and yet waited as if powerless. The man himself in question wore a golden eye-patch and her time spent studying the myths since the events in New Mexico meant that Alice had inkling that the person who was talking was Odin, the King of Gods.

She always thought he'd be taller though.

"She is ill."

"She is mortal." He waved a hand and the soul forge was back to a simple bed with strange bedposts. "Illness is their defining trait."

And that was the father of the man Jane was dating. Still there had been worse 'Meet the Parents' scenarios.

"I brought her here because we can help her."

"She does not belong here in Asgard anymore than a goat belongs at a banquet table."

"Did he just-?" Jane started saying at Thor who looked at her apologetically and Alice winced. Apparently Jane had not noticed that all the healers were standing away with their heads bowed and that they were quite obviously in the presence of the King of Asgard. "Who do you think you are?" She said indignant.

It was just like Jane to be so completely unaware of people.

"I am Odin King of Asgard, protector of the Nine realms."

"Oh." Jane said and before she could get herself into anymore trouble Alice decided to take the attention off her.

"I hope Earth isn't in one of the Nine Realms you're supposed to be protecting. Wouldn't want a carnivore to protect the, what was it? Oh yes, 'Goats at a banquet table'."

Odin looked at her with distaste his eyes roaming over her clearly Earthy attire and his lip curled.

"Another human? Thor your dalliances are growing-"

"I'm not his dalliance, I'm Jane's sister. I thought it best not to let her go into a different world alone and it is quite obvious that I was right."

Odin's eye seemed to glaze over, he was looking at her but not really looking at her.

"Not another one." He whispered and if it wasn't for the training Natasha had given her in lip reading Alice wouldn't have realised that was what he said but before she could ask what he meant Jane chimed in, adamant on introducing herself. Fearless, brave and as always stupid.

"I'm -"

"I know who you are. Jane Foster."

And Jane being Jane chose to focus on the bit where Thor's Dad knew about her, not realising that it also meant that the King of Asgard and apparent Protector of the Nine Realms knew of her and didn't approve. "You told you Dad about me?"

"Something is within her father, something I have not seen before." Thor continued and Alice sat down on the bed next to Jane in silent solidarity.

"Her world has its healers. They are called doctors, let them deal with it. Guards take them back to Midgard."

Two guards appeared from the other entrance, the one no one was watching because Odin was pulling their attention and made to manhandle Jane

"No I would not-" Thor tried to say just as Alice's fingers curled around the gun SHIELD had outfitted her with but before she could even grasp it properly the same energy they had seen on Earth surged through throwing the guards back a good few paces along with Alice and Jane fell back onto the forge bed in a boneless heap. "-touch her. Jane are you alright?"

She nodded, unable to say much and Odin strode forward putting out his hand and pulling it parallel over her arm. Strange glowing red lights appeared to be under her skin and his voice that had been so arrogant, so angry was now subdued.

"It's impossible."

"The infection, it's defending her." Eir said.

"No. It's defending itself." Thor guessed.

"Come with me."

The ship took them to the palace and they walked for what felt like ages, going deeper and deeper under the castle until finally they stood before a pair of tall heavy doors that had begun opening just as they turned the corner.

The room they entered was strange to say the least, it didn't have the same gold walls that frequented Asgard but instead were green and brown with runes etched into them. A tree stood in the middle and women in the same uniform as Eir and her attendants walked around its base taking notes while men in armour stood in the few beams of light shining through the ceiling as if praying. Alice looked up and realised that it wasn't a ceiling at all, they were standing in the canopy of the tree, which was vast beyond what she'd expected and the light wasn't coming through the ceiling at all, instead it came from the branches of the tree that seemed to hold galaxies in them, complete with stars and swirls and things that Jane was far better suited to recognise than Alice.

They went through the room and into another one, this one as golden as the rest of Asgard. Thor and Odin who had stopped breathing near the tree were suddenly very relieved. Odin took a book down from the shelves lining the walls and as he opened it up he recited the words written in them which were nothing more than illegible artistic scratches to her and Jane even though the pictures moved.

"There are relics that pre-date the universe itself." Odin said. "What lies within her appears to be one of them. The Nine Realms are not eternal. They had a dawn as they will have a dusk. But before that dawn the dark forces, the Dark Elves reigned absolute and unchallenged."

"Born of eternal night, the Dark Elves come to steal away the light." Thor read and Alice wished Odin was narrating instead. She didn't like the Allfather but he had a sense of grandeur that better suited these words. "I know these stories, Mother told them to us as children."

It was the 'us' in that sentence that caught Alice's attention and she remembered that Thor was Loki's brother. Loki, as in the guy who had tried to take over the world and it was hard to reconcile the image of the man in the golden helmet with what Thor made sound like little children who were told stories by their mother just like their Dad would tell Jane and her about the Big Bang.

"Their leader Malekith made a weapon out of that darkness and it was called the Aether." Jane edged closer to the book to see what was in it while Alice remained where she was. "While the other relics often appear as stones, the Aether is fluid and every changing. It changes matter into dark matter. It seeks out host bodies, drawing strength from their life source. Malekith sought to use the Aether's power to return the Universe into that of darkness. But after eternities of bloodshed my father Bor finally triumphed ushering in a peace that lasted thousands of years." He gestured proudly at the book and its contents as if completely ignoring the fact that the people in the room did not give a damn about his Father's accomplishments, all they wanted was to know was how to get the damned thing out of Jane.

"What happened?" Jane asked.

"He killed them all."

"Are you certain?" Thor asked. "The Aether was said to have been destroyed with them and yet here it is."

"The Dark Elves are dead."

"Does your book happen to mention how to get it out of me?" Jane asked, the vein in her forehead throbbing wildly.

"No. It does not." Odin said and turned to leave.

"Are you sure?" Alice asked. "Because there seem to be plenty of things you've been wrong about and if this is your way of polishing the goat off the banquet table, then..." She trailed off.

Odin paused and turned to her with a twitch in his lip that was almost a snarl. "What need have I to kill her Alice Foster? She'd be dead in a few decades anyway, even without the Aether. Compared to the thousands of years we will live it's a pittance."

With that parting shot he swept away.


	4. Chapter 4

Contrary to popular opinion Jane Foster wasn't completely unaware of people, she just didn't care enough about them to try not to offend them, not unless there was something in it for her. Being a female scientist in a male dominated field meant dealing with a lot of misogynists who had a tendency to dismiss her and guiding herself through those circles she had learnt that the best way to deal with them was to be as brusque, uncaring and generally offensive as possible. Her treatment of Darcy often left people aghast but she knew Darcy could take it and would give it back in spades. Their relationship was even more complicated than the one she had with Thor all stemming from one particular incident at a McDonald's after Donald and she had broken up, an incident that they both denied ever happening.

There were the other female scientists of course who were, to be completely honest, terrifying. But she was not one of them, for all that Jane tried hard to do so she just could not intimidate anyone. It was one of the things she envied of Alice, her sister's ability to cow people twice her size was commendable.

If only she didn't have the court mandated anger management to thank for that.

Still, the fact remained she wasn't unaware. So she had noticed that Thor was uncharacteristically worried, she had noticed that while Odin was dismissing her he was also very wary and she had most definitely noticed that Alice was hiding something from her. Jane hadn't missed what Heimdall had said about Alice having more than just pepper spray in her pocket and if it weren't for the brief worried glance Alice flicked at her she would have dismissed it entirely. But that _had_ happened and so it became obvious that Alice was hiding something. Then there was the way she kept on looking everywhere, her sister had been the curious type but she was looking for exits and entries in particular and angled herself to face at least one such opening. It spoke of a paranoia the likes of which was uncharacteristic to Alice.

The mood had gone significantly down since they had found there was no way to remove the Aether from her. Both Thor and Alice had put on fake smiles and assured her they'd find a way to make it right but it was obviously weighing down on them as they watched her like a ticking bomb, Thor a bit more quiet than usual, almost whispering and Alice joking incessantly, clearly nervous.

Jane had remained hopeful though and for more reason than one.

Firstly, even if she died, she had travelled via an Einstein-Rosen Bridge, at least her bucket list that consisted of just this one item was complete. Secondly she was there with two of her favourite people in the world although it might have perhaps been a bit better if Erik, Darcy and her Mom were there as well. Thirdly she was on a world that was more technologically advanced than anything she'd seen so far and the research opportunities were stunning, even if she died she would be leaving behind a legacy unlike any before, no humans had been on Asgard before. And then there was the fourth, most important thing of them all.

She knew that Odin had lied. She knew that Malekith was alive.

Odin had said a lot about the Aether being a weapon, about it being fluid, about it turning matter to Dark Matter. What he had not told, or perhaps he didn't even know (she couldn't even try to pretend not to get a sick sense of satisfaction over that) was that the Aether was alive, it was sentient and it was talking to her.

'_Lies_," It had whispered when Odin said all Dark Elves were dead, "_Malekith lives, he has been awakened and he comes for us, pet._" It said in sibilant tones and the blue tinge to her vision grew before diminishing again, terrifying but soothing her nonetheless.

She'd come out of this alive. She didn't why she was so certain about it but she was. It was like the time before Thor had landed on her research, when she'd first seen the 'slight Aurora' and known in her bones that there was something more than just shifts in air particles there. Like when her Dad had shown her the stars and she'd known one day she'd be among them, she'd see them for herself and not just through pictures in her books either. She knew she would live through this.

She just hoped there'd still be a world left to live in as well. Her gut was suspiciously silent on this, and with the convergence occurring and Malekith being awakened she was afraid for it.

For now though, there was a Bifrost to observe.

"Thor, can we go to the observatory? I was wondering if I could ask Heimdall about the Bifrost's mechanism."

"Now? It's rather late isn't it?" The sun had set a long time ago and even though Jane was feeling tired, as if she had a fever, she still felt the buzz of travelling by the Bifrost. "You should eat and take some rest, it has been twice today that I have seen you lose all strength and fall to the ground. Are you certain you feel well enough for the walk?"

He asked. He didn't demand and she knew he had it in him to just outright tell her no and she would have to listen. Here he was a beloved Prince and she was just a mortal scientist. His father was king and he didn't even like her, by all rights Thor should have just told her no but he didn't. It was a change for her, all the men in her life seemed to tell her what she needed to do, tell her how to behave, how she was fixating on the all wrong thing in her research. And Jane was certain that Thor, for all that he was supposed to be the jock, still knew more about the world than she did.

That night when they'd stayed up back in Puente Antiguo and he'd told her about the World Tree, the Nine Realms and the Bifrost, he may have used different terms but what he had described was interplanetary travel, wormholes, his hammer forged in the heart of a dying star, literally using the heat of the star as a furnace and the reactions to change the molecular structure of the metal, there was so much that he knew, that he could tell her. And he did tell her but even then he didn't belittle her comparative lack of knowledge, he never patronised her. When he talked to her about space it was so personal like the universe was a living being and they were all simple cogs in its machinations and she was in love with that.

"I'm fine, I just really want to _know_."

"Then we shall leave immediately." He said with a smile and looked down at her.

He was leaning in for a kiss when Jane realised she suddenly understood Darcy's Romantic theory of Time Relativity. As short as she was and as tall as he was, the space between them was not so huge that it should take such a long time for his mouth to come down upon hers, surely they should be frenching by now?

They didn't. A throat being cleared interrupted them and they pulled away to look at Alice who stood off at the side.

"You forgot all about me didn't you?"

"Yes."

"No." Thor and Jane said simultaneously and Alice took a deep breath looking suspiciously like a dragon.

"Lady Alice, would you also like to join us at the Bifrost observatory?"

"I don't really want to leave you two alone but I figure Jane's going to be more distracted by the science and the Einstein-Rosen bridge than you so I'm fine with it." Jane was pretty sure that was going to happen too. But the Observatory was a long way away and they'd have time to 'talk' till they reached it. "I'd rather hang out here and figure some things out if you don't mind. Maybe get to know Asgard a bit more."

"Of course, though it might be better if you were dressed differently. People might not take too fondly to a Midgardian in our midst."

"But then Jane-"

"Will be safe, no one would dare harm her while she is with me."

"Riiight."

"I'll be fine don't worry about me." But perhaps Jane should worry about her. "But will you be alright, I mean it's a big city in a...different world?"

"I'll be fine, it's not the first time I've been alone in a new city."

"Yes but...you do end up offending people a lot."

"I only offend them because I want to. And by now I know how to push people's buttons just right so they can't really blame me for being offended."

Jane turned to Thor. "Maybe we should stay here."

"Nah don't worry about me. Really, I'm just curious."

"Promise you won't offend anyone."

"I will try my best to be polite and not offend anyone."

"I won't get anything more than that will I?"

"No. Besides you've pissed off way more people than I have. Anyway I'm just going to stick to the palace, check out the architecture."

Alice was being weird again. Since when was she interested more in architecture than people? And why did Jane get the feeling she was filing away everything she saw methodically? Alice was looking at Asgard the way she'd looked at her Algebra homework. She was studying it and Jane didn't know why.

"I shall have someone help you get dressed." Thor looked around caught a woman's eye and she came scurrying forward, almost tripping over themselves. She was gorgeous, her gown cut down to there and Thor's eye didn't drift once. It made Jane feel a bit better.

At least she knew he wasn't a boob man. That was good because she didn't really much going on in that area. Or any area, really. She hoped he was a legs kind of guy, Jane had decent legs.

He said a few words to the woman about helping Alice and with a nod she left, leading her sister away with her and they were alone, finally.

"So, shall we?" His elbow was held out for her to take and Jane allowed herself one moment of swooning before girding herself again.

Einstein-Rosen bridge. Bifrost. All seeing Aesir who could give her answers to questions pertaining to a lifetime's worth of research.

Oh she loved this Realm.

* * *

Alice paced the length of the hallway. She ducked behind a pillar when a convoy of soldiers passed by and reached for the little gun strapped to her thigh for comfort breathing only once they'd passed by, fingers tracing the trigger gently.

She was alone in front of the Queen's chamber in the palace, a restricted part of it in fact and she was considered lesser for being human and not Aesir. It did not bode well for her. She peered around the round pillar waiting for the guards to go out of view and when she couldn't see them any more sagged in relief.

"Were you ever going to come in?"

Alice jolted, jumping two feet into the air and had the gun out in trice as the voice sounded. She kept her back pressed against the pillar, trying to calm her heart. The woman who had surprised her raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"People usually don't manage to sneak up on me." Alice said, her gun still pointed at the person.

"People don't usually escape the notice of the Einherjar either."

"I think we've both established we're exceptional then."

"Indeed. Were you looking for me Lady Alice?"

"If you're Frigga, Queen of Asgard also known as the Allmother, then yes. If not then no. But in both cases, why do you know my name?"

"My husband told me about the presence of Midgardians. Since Thor isn't shadowing you, I assume you are not Jane Foster."

"Your husband?"

"The Allfather."

"So you _are_ Frigga." She lowered her gun then.

"Yes. Would you rather we talk in my chambers?"

"If you wouldn't mind." Alice followed the Queen into the room, the heavy doors opening with a snap of Frigga's fingers. She looked around the golden room with its opulent silks carefully, noting the open window as the only escape. Plenty of hidey holes, little places tucked away in shadows. "The Allfather isn't here is he?"

"You are not fond of my husband, I gather."

Alice shrugged. "I don't like anyone who judges the value of a life by its quantity rather than its quality." She eyed the Queen and wondered if she should complete that thought.

"You may be free with your words Alice Foster." Frigga permitted with a knowing smile. She would have to add mind reader to the list of skills Frigga had along with creepy stealth and magic.

"It's just that in most cases the people who usually do that, they don't really lead the most fulfilling of lives. I'm not fond of your husband but I do pity him. What a sad, sad person he must be."

Frigga paused. "That was...a little more freedom with words than I expected. Well Lady Alice, I doubt you asked for an audience with me just to discuss my husband."

"No I didn't." Alice leaned forward, her fingers laced together under her chin. "Thor said you were the one to tell them the stories of the Dark Elves."

"Yes."

"Well I was wondering if you knew anything about getting the Aether out of my sister."

"I am afraid the books do not tell of any such thing and I was not yet born when the battle with the Dark Elves occurred."

"And all the dark elves _were_ killed? There weren't any kept as, oh I don't know, prisoners of war or anything? Maybe raised with Odin as his brother if that's a family tradition?"

"You mock my husband's decision to take Loki as his own?"

"No I'm wondering if there's any prize of war that still exist and might help me save my sister's life. I don't really care what your husband does as long as it doesn't affect me in any way."

"Pragmatic. I am afraid no such prize exists." Frigga said and Alice's face fell. She'd been hoping for something, anything that might even lead her to clue. "But I would not be so certain that there are no Dark Elves left."

"Wait, what? Why?"

"The libraries in Vanaheim where _I_ studied make no mention of Malekith's death only of his disappearance. They also say Malekith tied his soul to the Aether. It was more than a weapon, it was his triumph over light. It responds to him like none other."

"So it's the One Ring to his Sauron, okay I get it."

"I don't know what you mean but it stands to believe that if the Aether still exists, then he must as well in some form or another. And his body was certainly never found in the many carcasses, otherwise it would not have been swept away and lumped in with the rest."

"So Malekith might be alive. And the Convergence is happening. And the Aether's been found and apparently it is tied to him. Stand to reason then that wherever Malekith is, he is aware of it?"

"I would certainly speculate it to be so."

"Well if he is, then he won't be very happy to know that it's on Asgard will he?"

"No, he will come for it." Frigga frowned. "And destroy anything that stands between him and the Aether."

"So we play the waiting game, alright."

"Should we prepare for battle?" Frigga teased but Alice simply frowned.

"I had to go through twenty three open passages to get here, from every single one I saw people training for fights and sparring, pretty sure you're already prepared for battle."

"Perhaps once Lady Jane is feeling well enough you might try the libraries in Vanaheim, they were more prone to recording details than the scribes of Asgard."

"Hopefully. Thank you for telling me all this." Alice turned to leave but stopped and turned abruptly. She opened and closed her mouth several times before shaking her head and plowing on. It was a silly, stupid thought really and didn't make any sense but she had to ask. "I don't suppose Loki would happen to know anything about this?"

"I cannot be sure. When he fell into the Void he made new...acquaintances. What he learnt from them is a mystery to me."

"These would be the same acquaintances who gave him the sceptre would they?"

"Yes, much the same. I believe it resides on Midgard now. Whatever happened to it?"

"There're people studying it but no one else has managed to use it to control any minds yet." Alice said flippantly, biting her thumb nail lost in her thoughts.

"And you know of this?"

"Well yeah I-"

Alice realised then how much of her own knowledge she had ended up revealing. Why would a private citizen know that Loki had a sceptre that he'd used to control people's minds, let alone that people were studying its powers?

"I'll be leaving then." She said and made a quick escape.

Alice had a lot to think about. Clearly the people here wouldn't be much helps, they didn't know much about the Aether. Odin was the only one who'd even recognised it but he was reluctant to help Jane that much was obvious.

She needed information and there was a potential source of it in the prisons.

Alice wondered if the risk of breaking him out of prison would be worth it.


	5. Chapter 5

"My friends!" Thor cried out as he approached the alcove where his friends sat, Sif,Volstagg and Fandral still in their armour having clearly returned from battle. "You have returned."

"Did you ever doubt us?" Sif said playfully and the back of his neck prickled as if someone was staring at him murderous intent. He would have thought it to be Jane but he could still hear her faint voice a few feet away, talking about the mechanics of the floating ships.

"No of course not." He cleared his throat and turned around pulling Jane forward and she looked away from the schematics in her hand. "My friends, this is Lady Jane Foster of Midgard, Jane Foster, my friends."

"Hi, it's nice to meet you." She stuck her palm out for a handshake and instead Fandral raised it to his lips to kiss, completely ignoring Thor's growl.

"So this is why Thor keeps on disappearing every night." Fandral said teasingly.

"Excuse me?"

"Thor has been making visits to Heimdall every day he is on Asgard." Sif said a bit colder than she had been with Thor but not enough that Jane would notice. Thor supposed that Sif really was rather troubled by how he focused on Midgard, she had always reminded him to take his duties seriously. She had been the most vocal of them all only exceeded by his bro-Loki.

"And who might you be milady?" Fandral addressed his words to somewhere behind them and Alice stepped forward. She turned to Thor with a smile and yet her eyes narrowed at him and Thor stepped closer to Jane.

He wasn't afraid of this mortal woman but it would not do well to be on her bad side as well. He had seen how Jane considered her to be important and the bad impression he had created by being away for two years (again, for perfectly legitimate reasons) needed to be dispelled. And apparently, while Jane was unaffected by his friendship with Sif, Lady Alice was not.

"I'm Alice, Jane's sister."

"I'm Fan-"

"I know who you all are." She said with a thin sharp smile.

"Do you? Does Thor talk so much about us milady?" Volstagg said with a hearty laugh.

"No, _he_ hasn't mentioned you at all. But the minute you stepped on Asgard people started talking and gossiping about you. I've heard the most amusing things. Although some of them were not that amusing." Her eyes flitted to Sif whose face hardened in response.

"In the habit of eavesdropping?" Sif said with a cat like smile. Thor had forgotten that she was actually a woman and knew how to fight by _those_ rules as well.

'_Every woman has her claws'_ as Loki had told him once and he pushed down the pang that came with remembering his brother.

"In the habit of being the topic of a million rumours?" Responded Alice with a sweet smile and Thor saw Sif's hand curl around into a fist.

"Alice, be nice." Jane said chidingly and her sister stepped back while Jane smiled at Sif. "I'm sorry about her. It's been a...long two days."

"And when she says long she means shit. It has been a shit day and I'm pretty sure it's only going to get worse. Like, balls deep up shit creek without a paddle kind of worse." Alice muttered and the company jolted.

It was odd to hear such crude words leaving the mouth of someone who looked like a lady of the court. Jane still stood out with her lack of adornments even though she was in an Asgardian gown but her sister actually managed to fit in quite well. She was already quite tall and with the blonde hair pulled up with braids she had been mistaken for a lady visiting from Vanaheim on many occasions as they had walked through the markets, especially since she chose to wear the armour that Jane had found too cumbersome. When she'd opened her mouth though, those assumptions crumbled and a fair few had been left gaping at the sudden turn of events that had followed. She looked pretty as a picture but spewed crass words so casually, a fair few war hardened soldiers would have been left shocked.

"Language!" Said Jane with all the frustration of an older sibling and Alice simply turned to her with a grin.

"Cockwomble."

"Alice!"

"Penis!"

"I am not talking to you."

"I will say penis over and over again until you talk to me."

"I will talk to you." Thor couldn't help but smile at this display. It hadn't been unusual for him to bother Loki while he studied or for Loki to bother him while he was practising with the sword. There were many things about Jane that he did not understand because he was from Asgard but this he understood, this he ached for.

"Ha!"

"You are so annoying." Alice shrugged.

"It is my birthright as your sibling, to annoy you for all of eternity." Alice paused. "Oh and by the way peeeeenis."

"Well this is strangely familiar." Fandral said, sharing Thor's thoughts and as if one the Warriors Three sans one Hogun and Sif turned to look at Thor while the two sisters exchanged glances.

"Well I'm sure you are strangely familiar with penises." Alice said understandingly and winked while Fandral spluttered.

"I am not-, my interest lies solely with you today milady." He smouldered at her and Alice blinked, unaffected.

"Sure it does." She drawled.

"My friends we shall take our leave of you, I wished to discuss certain things with Jane." Thor said, taking Jane's hand in his delicately and looked to Fandral with a plea and the blonde man stepped away from the pillar he was leaning against to face Alice.

"Of course. Lady Alice, how much have you seen of Asgard?"

"Not a lot I'm afraid."

"We shall have to rectify that immediately, our golden city has much to offer. Would you like to take a tour milady?"

"Sure why not." Alice agreed and Thor felt relief flooding through him. Finally he'd get a moment to talk to Jane in peace.

"We shall leave you to it then." He said and quickly, before Alice could change her mind he walked away with Jane's arm tucked into the crook of his elbow. Just as they were a few yards away he turned back to look at their company.

Alice narrowed her eyes at him and Thor looked away, awkward. He recognised that look; Loki would throw it at Sif when in years past she had been more obvious with her affections for Thor. It was the over protective 'You are not worthy' look and in all his life Thor had never faced this expression himself. The young maidens he had courted in his youth had faced this scrutiny but never him. Thor was crown prince of the Aesir, wielder of the Mjolnir, brave beyond compare and yet deemed unworthy by a mortal. Midgardians were an odd folk.

He turned back for a brief second again, feeling the prickle on the back of his neck and Alice jabbed two fingers at her eyes before pointing to him and he read the threat in it.

'I'm watching you.' It quite clearly said and he worked on putting as much distance between them and her as he could finally relaxing when they stopped at an alcove leading to the palace, looking out on a curved inlet.

"What's the rush? We've got time. Well actually we don't, I'm pretty sure your Dad is looking for a safe way to evict me without the Aether killing people, but still." Jane said wryly, a little smile edging on her lips.

"I was anxious to have you all to myself Jane Foster. Your sister doesn't like me."

"She's overprotective. I can't really blame her. She's worried that this might turn toxic." Jane said flippantly as if a grave insult hadn't been made to Thor's honour and he frowned.

"She doesn't even know me but she makes such assumptions?"

"It's not just you, she's suspicious of all people in general. Even Donald although that's not really the best comparison to make considering he turned out to be a cheating asshole." She shook her head and tuned to him with a sad smile. "Her friend was in an abusive relationship, it was pretty bad and then it got worse."

"What happened?"

"She tried to leave. He killed her." Jane said in a voice far too controlled and causal and that belied her concern as her eyes looked to a point beyond his shoulder.

With those words Thor's aggravation melted away into sympathy. His mother had lost a sister to such circumstances when he had been very young, barely a few centuries old and he still remembered those days. Frigga had cried for days, worn the colours of mourning for a whole century and there had been many days when she'd been quite and withdrawn and wondered if there was something she had missed, some sign she had failed to notice, some words she hadn't said that could have prevented the tragedy.

"I'm sorry."

"It was rough. Alice blamed herself for not noticing earlier just like the girl's parents did and since then she's been more careful about such things. Watches people more closely than usual."

"I suppose her caution is well meaning then."

"Everything she does is well meaning." Thor found himself fascinated by the utter conviction in Jane's voice. Even when he had defended Loki against all those who would have called him a coward he had never been so convinced as Jane was. Her utter faith in her sister made him wistful for a simpler time. "So, tell me more about this Convergence I hear about?"

Thor smiled, glad for the distraction. He knew a good way of explaining that. He took her hand in his, splaying out the fingers pressing palm to palm.

"The Nine Realms travel within Yggdrasil-"

* * *

"So shall we?" The very blond friend of Thor's said and Alice turned to him with her most convincingly innocent face.

"Sure, I just wanted some water before we started, I'm sure Asgard is huge and I don't want to get too dehydrated." She tittered. It was a very annoying sound to her ears but from experience, men seemed to love it.

Sif quite obviously didn't love it. She rolled her eyes while Fandral went off to very kindly fetch her some.

"I hope you're all right." It was taking quite a lot from Alice to put that hint of concern in her voice.

Sif was flirting with Thor with Jane right there. If it wasn't for the fact that Jane didn't notice and clearly Thor didn't either, someone would have been hurt. As it stood Sif was the only one getting her heart broken and Alice had absolutely no problem with that.

Sif looked her up and down suspiciously. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Isn't it obvious? Thor and Jane...well, it seems pretty obvious to me. You certainly seem very obvious as well. If what the rest of Asgard thinks is anything to go by, they think so as well." Alice smiled. The smile did not reach her eyes and it sure as hell didn't get an answering one from Sif.

"Is that so?" Sif stood very close, clearly trying to intimidate Alice which was ridiculous.

She knew the Black Widow, in comparison this was just paltry.

"Lady Alice," Fandral said and presented her with a mug, breaking the tension that had been created almost instantly. "Asgard awaits." He said and presented her with his arm which she took with a girlish giggle. As they left Sif and Volstagg behind she turned for a brief moment to grin and waggle her fingers at Sif who promptly broke the staff in her hand.

"So, where are we going first?" She asked.

"Wherever you wish."

"Well I wa- You know what never mind. I mean it's silly and dangerous and you probably can't even take me there because it's off limits."

"I cannot imagine a door that would stay closed to you." He said in an outrageously flirtatious tone that had her breaking out in loud laughter in her head.

He sounded ridiculous.

Outwardly she blushed and ducked her head.

"It's just that...well I know that Loki's in the prisons and it's ridiculous isn't it?"

"You want to see the prisons?" Fandral stopped suddenly looking aghast at the mere suggestion and she ducked her head again and sniffled.

"It's just that I was in New York when the Chitauri battle happened you know? And I saw him on this flying thing in his horned helmet and suddenly things were exploding, it was -I watched my whole neighbourhood just blow up and get reduced to debris and he was to blame and I just," She broke off and her fingers splayed over her cheeks as she shook, "I just think I'd sleep better at night if I knew he was in safe hands and behind bars."

Tears were great for manipulating people who weren't sociopaths. A little hitch in the voice, a tremble in the mouth and shiny eyes were all that were needed. Quite easy really.

"I know what you mean. When war is at your doorstep and you can't do anything, it's-" It was surprisingly deep coming from him and for a moment she almost felt guilty for manipulating that way. "I'll take you to the prisons but it will be up to the guards to decide whether or not you're allowed in."

"Thank you." It was the first sincere thing she'd said to him.

It was a long way to the prisons. Asgard sprawled underground just as it did above it

But Alice found she liked how it looked below the earth better than the bits above it. The glaring golden perfection of it above was strange and the angles of the underground with dirt still at the edges of the stairs made much more sense to her.

"Something's wrong," Fandral said and took his sword out. There were very loud sounds coming and burnt bodies of Einherjar littered the way down. Soon she found herself running after him, pausing only to take a shield and sword from one of the bodies.

Loud bells rang out and Fandral paused for all of one second before running fully.

"It's a prison riot! Milady, stay bac-"

The look on his face as she passed him by and joined the fray with gusto was really quite amusing but soon she was very busy slicing open one of the prisoner's belly and didn't have the time to laugh. Her breath needed to be conserved for other things.

There was something exhilarating about a fight. It was a power struggle she consistently won just by coming out alive. No thought, nothing just pure adrenaline directing moves.

In a fight like the one she was witnessing and participating in, there was no plan. All you knew was who you couldn't kill and who you could and then it was just a matter of rolling with the punches.

In the last few hours Alice had witnessed her sister falling to pieces and collapsing every few minutes because she held an alien power source in her, been told that there was no way of getting it out of her and that she was probably going to die soon.

That made for a lot of pent up anger.

The Einherjar sword she had was sharp, the shield was good and she was pissed off. This was going to be fun.

"You know this isn't what I had in mind when I thought you wanted to see the prisons." Fandral said to her, still quipping while fighting. "It's as if they resent being imprisoned." He told Volstagg who'd just appeared.

"There's no pleasing some creatures." He swung his axe and kicked another.

"A pretty blond and a redhead with an axe, where have I seen that before?" Alice said as she tore a strip off her gown and used it to hogtie this one particular man (or woman, she couldn't tell with all the papery folds of skin and the armour) and knocked him out with his own helmet. An arm came upon her from the back and held her in a chokehold and as he pulled up her face she found herself looking at Loki and winked. He looked between her and the others before going back to his book with a sigh, making a very pretence of reading. She kicked off his cell walls and slammed her captor into the ground before stabbing him through with a spear she found on the ground.

They all fell quickly enough but then she didn't expect it to be a good fight. They were after all recently defeated prisoners, still bearing a fair amount of injuries and it wasn't surprising that the lacked the calibre she was used to. Bodyguards and mafia hitmen were a lot more invested in the fight and here the prisoners knew they wouldn't get far, Asgard had more platoons of soldiers than most military bases she'd been to. They just wanted to get a good fight, maybe die so they wouldn't have to live in captivity.

A loud thud and sudden silence broke the din. Alice turned to see Thor standing there, proud as ever cape and everything.

"Return to your cells and no further harm will come to you. You have my word." One of the prisoners punched him in the face and Thor grabbed him, holding Mjolnir against his throat menacingly. "Very well you do not have my word." With those fighting words he joined the fight and Alice lost her temper again.

"Damn it Thor, if you're here who the hell is with Jane?!" She yelled across the room and he gaped to see her there while she waited for an answer while skewering two prisoners on her borrowed spear.

"Lady Alice?" He croaked.

"That's not an answer you little shit!"

Alice swore a lot when she was angry. Their mother had used a swear jar at home to keep her in line and after a year she bought herself some Jimmy Choos with the money in it. Still, even she would be swearing at this point.

"She is in capable hands." He answered but it only served to piss her off further.

"Take names you fucking asshat! And your dad better not be one of them!"

"She's with my mother." He finally answered and with yet another litany of swears she took off out of there and ran to the wing where she Frigga's chambers to be in. Her little session of exploring Asgard paid off as she took the shortcuts she'd found before.

Alice ducked as explosions rocked the outer walls but slowed down tremendously when the walls and floors all began to shake and dust began raining from the seams of the golden walls only to settle down, far too quickly. She ran again, only stopping briefly when she came to the throne room and found a giant black and red ship just lying there having quite obviously just broken the room in its entry and then some.

One of the Einherjar was still alive although very near death if the gaping wound in his side was anything to go by and she rushed to him, trying to give him any form of aid she could. He pushed away her hands, holding onto her wrist tightly.

"I don't think putting pressure on this is going to do any good." It wasn't just a cut but a huge part of his side looked like it had been sucked away and she wondered what these Asgardians were made of for him to still be responsive when suffering from a wound like that.

"M-Maleki-" He said before his eyes slid shut and she found he had been holding onto some strange rock. After a second's deliberation she took it and his blade as well and began walking again, this time taking what the London Headquarters team had called 'Phase Two' gun out. It wasn't as bulky as she expected it to be but it wasn't exactly a wee pistol either. The closer she got to Frigga's chambers the trail of burnt out bodies became clear and she ran to the doors and flung them open, loading the gun as she did so.

Time to take out the trash.


	6. Chapter 6

Her entrance was loud and messy and earned her a lot of attention. That was good because from the looks of it, Frigga was just about to be shanked.

"So, which one of you is Malekith?" Alice addressed the two weird looking ones. "I'll assume Horney is the minion considering he's clearly taking orders which makes you, Mr Pasty, Malekith."

"Who are you?" Malekith questioned and Horney's grip on Frigga tightened. "You bear the same blood as the one who stole my Aether."

He expected an answer. He did not expect to be flung back as Alice fired her gun off.

Natasha had been right, this thing packed a punch. Enough of one that Horney had now left Frigga in a crumpled heap on the floor to help Malekith who had been flung straight through a pillar. The recoil sent Alice herself sliding back on the smooth floor and it was only the fact that she had been braced for it that saved her from toppling over entirely.

"WITCH!" Malekith roared and came at her but Frigga interrupted.

"Your fight is with me."

Malekith bared his teeth and Horney made a move but this time he was flung back as the gun fired at him.

"Algrim," Malekith cried out as Horney went over the edge of the balcony and his face contorted in rage and he came at Frigga even harder, their movements going so fast that they changed position too often for Alice to take a shot and all she could do when Malekith disarmed Frigga was to throw the sword she'd nicked off the dead Einherjar at her so she wasn't defenceless. Her eyes were searching rather frantically for Jane and only when her eyes caught a flash of bronze coloured silk in her peripheral vision, did she focus on the fight. Alice moved to Frigga's side but a roar stopped her and Horney had climbed back up and from the way his eyes were fixed on her, she was his target.

The Tesseract powered blow would have eviscerated a human but apparently not so with Dark Elves. They were injured and it was affecting their ability to fight but they didn't stop for more than a second.

Horney rushed her and as she retreated, trying to reach for the sword that had been knocked out of Frigga's grasp before she studied him. He was favouring his right side, all brute strength and little else. He moved fast but was also hindered in his movements by his own bulk leaving several blind spots that she could exploit. Alice turned and made a run for the sword and just as her fingers touched it her head was jerked back as Horney grabbed her hair and pulled hard.

Her sword came up without another thought and he was left there staring at her in disbelief as she stood, free of him now, blonde strands in his hand and as slight plops sounded and slight weight left her hair she realised she had taken off a few of his fingers as well.

Gross. So gross. But pretty useful, especially when Thor came bursting through the door and Malekith and Horney, being quite thoroughly defeated fled, their ship coming up and turning invisible before the Asgardian speedboats could follow them.

Odin entered soon after, making a beeline for Frigga who all but ignored him. "You can come out now Jane."

Alice was tackled into a bear hug and a multitude of questions that she promised she would answer later. "So, Allfather, Malekith looked pretty alive right then."

With one venomous glance at her he stormed out taking his guards with him and Frigga and Thor exchanged a look before deciding very obviously not to go after him.

"What the hell was that?" Jane asked frantically.

"Malekith duh."

"No, I meant you with the sword and the-" She flailed and feigned stabbing a person. Alice was hard pressed not to tell her that her imaginary grip was wrong unless she intended to use a pen to stab a person which really wasn't very sensible, ink and blood was a combination that was a bitch to get out of clothes.

"I kind of...work for SHIELD."

"WHAT?!" Jane shrieked eyes bigger than when they'd stepped out of the Bifrost."You...but you...You've been lying to me all this time!"

Alice rolled her eyes. "I lie to everyone."

"I'm your sister!"

"And you just fall for them so easy, I can't believe you woul-"

Frigga cleared her throat. "Thor, perhaps we should give them some privacy."

"Yeah so try not to tell Heimdall to keep an eye on us." Alice said, caustic and earned herself a frown from Thor and a smile from Frigga but soon they left.

"Alice? You've got blood on your hands." Jane said weakly.

Alice found dried flakes of it on her wrist from the dying Einherjar probably. She wiped it off on the hem of her skirt but Jane continued to stare at her hands blankly.

"You're in shock. It's not really uncommon and you've never really seen much violence." Alice checked Jane's pulse only to find it beating erratically.

"But _you_ have."

Alice shrugged. "I told you, I work for SHIELD."

"How did that happen?"

Alice took a deep breath and sat quietly for a second, wondering how exactly she would explain it. It took another few tries before she could string her words together properly.

Jane deserved the truth. She could lie of course and it would be easy too. She had a story all worked out about her getting caught up in something and SHIELD all but blackmailing her into working for them. It was a great story frankly and they could totally bond over how SHIELD was ridiculously douche.

But that would be a lie. So the truth it was and that was always harder wasn't it?

"When I first started modelling I got hired for parties often. It's not really that unusual people just want to pretty up the guest lists. I did the normal jobs actually, some of the other ones were crazy. A friend of mine spent New year's with a major drug dealer once. Anyway, there was this art installation that I mingled at. One of the guests there had a heart attack and died, only I didn't think it was a heart attack after all. Just...something seemed off I guess and so I did a little bit of investigating. I convinced the gallery manager that they should hire me to check out if someone might sue for a wrongful death or something. Apparently I got a bit too close and that's when SHIELD found me. I found an agent waiting for me in my apartment and I was so sure she was going to kill me but then she offered me a job instead. I figured 'What the hell?' and took the job."

"But why? Did they force you, is that it?"

Alice shrugged. "I don't know it was just...I got tired. If I continued on my track I would be that lawyer, I'd be that person waiting for someone else to collect evidence, I'd be preparing statements, I'd be interviewing people only to find my hands tied by the law. Between being the DA who lost the case and the assassin who killed the arms dealer, I'd rather be the assassin. Besides I was training to be a lawyer. I'd be sneaky and vicious anyway."

"So, SHIELD." Jane frowned. "They took all my equipment. And Darcy's iPod."

"I know someone who used his iPod to hack someone's pacemaker and kill him."

Jane shot Alice a look. "And the swords and stuff?"

"_That_ I actually learned because I was cast as an extra in a fantasy movie. It's coming out next year or so title isn't final yet. I'm an elf, they gave me pointy ears."

"Am I interrupting something?" Thor's voice said and they realised he'd been there for quite some time just listening in on them.

"Yes." Alice said.

"No." Jane said along with her.

"Have you been there the whole time?"

"No I just got here a few minutes ago."

"And you managed to sneak up on us. I'm impressed." Alice said in an entirely unimpressed tone.

"I must leave soon, we are still working on our defences but I thought I should at least see that you were okay since your run in with Malekith."

"We're fine."

"You're Vikings, right? Does that mean you do the boat ritual for the dead?"

"Yes, our dead are placed in boats along with their prized possessions and set to sail off the edge of Asgard. Archers send flaming arrows to the boats that set them on fire while the magic users send glowing lights into the night sky, symbolising the transience of life to afterlife."

"That sounds so poetic." Jane swooned.

"Are the customs different on Midgard?"

"Yes. Depending upon what religion you belong to the rites are different." Jane explained.

"Yeah, the one that Jane and I belong too believes in sticking our dead into wooden boxes and burying them, placing a stone marker to mark where they are so if you need to lay flowers you don't get confused as to which dead person you're leaving them for."

"Alice!"

"It's true."

"Some of them cremate the dead." Jane defended but frowned as she thought it over.

"Or that. Personally I'm an organ donor so my parts will be cut out for use for some other soul and the rest of me will probably be disposed of as biological waste. Or SHIELD will make me a guinea pig for some experiment. Maybe I'll come back from the dead a la Frankenstein's monster."

"This is not the time for jokes Alice!" It wasn't a joke, she'd been thinking of TAHITI but whatever. Jane drooped. "They're dead because of me. Because I went looking for-" She cut herself off, biting her lip hard. "It's my fault."

"Not really. If not you it would have been one of those kids and Asgard wouldn't even have realised that because Heimdall wasn't keeping an eye on every naughty eleven year old in the world. If anything, by you being the one that the Aether attached itself to, we bought ourselves some time. And these soldiers have been dying quite a lot because of rebellions in other worlds."

"How did you know that?" Thor asked, taken aback by her knowledge and Alice shrugged.

"Market gossip and I eavesdropped. It's ironic that in destroying the Bifrost to save Jotunheim you pretty much condemned a lot of other worlds to war because without Asgardians there to stop them, the bandits and rebel soldiers were pillaging and burning villages over an extensive period."

Thor frowned. "...I did not think of that."

"It's fine, I highly doubt people expected you to think." Alice said nastily but Thor was saved from responding when a soldier came in and told him to report to the war room. As soon as he was out Alice turned to Jane quickly.

"Jane they're going to be separating us pretty soon."

"What?!"

"They are. Unfortunately by fighting right now and landing a hit on Malekith I've proven myself to be dangerous and you have the Aether in you. Whether now or in a few hours time when they have more staff at hand and a better handle on the situation, they _will_ separate us and they'll do it nicely. It won't be obvious, they'll make an excuse first, just keep us away from each other for some time but it is inevitable that they will assume the two of us together to be a too volatile a situation and separate us. You won't be seeing much of Thor either, he's an idiot for you and that's great in a relationship but the King clearly doesn't like that you're a higher priority for Thor right now."

"But why would they do that?"

"Politics mainly. We're aliens to them they'll want us to be separate because it'll make us more vulnerable and easier to control."

"That makes no sense, anytime I feel threatened the Aether lashes out, I can't even control myself and you're...you."

"You learn a lot about people by making them nervous. But don't worry."

"How the hell am I not suppose dot worry?!"

"I've snuck my way into facilities a lot more secure than this, trust me I'll find a way out. You just try to think of a way to fix yourself."

"How am I supposed to do that? I'm an astrophysicist not a-" Jane waved her hands trying to find the right word for it.

"In all fairness, it is an extraterrestrial power source that you'd be studying. Erik was doing something similar back before with the Tesseract."

"But that's not the same!"

"I know, just think about it, focus on that it'll help keep your mind off things. I don't know, think of it as a way of creating a wormhole-"

"Einstein Rosen bridge"

"-that will only transport the Aether and not you."

Jane's eyes widened and she looked off into space thoughtfully. Alice knew that face. It was Jane's 'SCIENCE!' face."Oh. Calibrate it specifically so that it responds to the foreign energy inside me. Interesting. I might have to ask Heimdall some things though."

"Do it, just don't freak out okay?"

"I don't think they'll do it though. Separate us, I mean." They were interrupted by Fandral who clicked his heels a few times (clearly nervous, probably lying) before speaking.

"Eir would like to see you Lady Alice."

"Why?"

"To make sure you aren't injured. I was to escort you there."

Alice and Jane exchanged a look before separating.

Things were finally going to happen now.

* * *

The dungeons were filling up again. Loki looked them over carefully, noting each wound, each hitch in step. There were a few new faces among them, Dark Elves. The very same Dark Elves who were supposedly extinct due to Bor having slaughtered them all.

Oh, the many liars of the Royal House of Asgard. At this point Loki was doing a better job of fulfilling the family traditions than Thor. The oaf had certainly never earned the name of Silvertongue now had he? No, that honour lied with Loki. Strange how his tricks were making him more of an 'Odinson' than Thor.

Thor. Idiot. Brother. Golden Prince of Asgard. His first glimpse of his dear brother in a good year and of course he was fighting alongside a Midgardian. What was it with Thor and that backwater?

First bit of excitement in ages and he hadn't even been allowed to be a part of it. Pity. Still he could tell what had happened. This close to the convergence with Dark elves attacking? Malekith had returned. He must have wanted something from Asgard and decided to have one of his pet creatures infiltrate the palace from the dungeons. The Kursed who had simply looked at him before leaving. Annoying but understandable. When the Nine Realms were shattered and the Universe had a new throne forged of the dead there could only be one man to sit on it and the Kursed wanted that man to be Malekith.

"Loki!" The blue shimmer and tell tale chimes moved before turning into Frigga's visage and Loki felt a brief moment of relief that she had survived before it turned to anger. Purple bruises were blooming on her face and she had clearly been wounded on her side.

For all that he wanted Asgard to burn he did not want her to burn along with it.

"Mother what happened?" He fussed wishing she was really there and he could discern for himself what was going on. Still, Frigga had never hidden herself from him and as a look of wonder and joy took over her face he worried. Was she perhaps suffering from a head wound as well? "What is it?"

She bit her lip and her eyes grew suspiciously shiny and Loki frowned. "You called me mother."

"Slip of tongue." Loki sulked but couldn't do so for long. "Are you alright?"

"Fine. You should see Malekith."

"Strange, I thought he was dead." He said, hoping she could elaborate.

"Well, as you've proven, dead is a state subject to change."

He smiled sarcastically in response but conceded her point. He narrowed his eyes. "This isn't a social visit is it?"

"Is it ever really a social visit when it comes to you?" A voice from behind him said and he turned to find the same Midgardian who had fought off his fellow prisoners standing there.

"That was fast." Frigga said and the Midgardian shrugged.

"There's less personnel guarding this place. Most have been diverted to what I'm assuming is the Treasure chamber or something. Saw some very shiny things in there and some of them glowed, so."

"The weapons vault." Frigga said weakly. "How did you get in there?"

"Disguised myself and followed Odin's entourage. It was really very easy."

"Easy?"

"Well yes. Lost of soldiers died in combat so they had to shuffle the teams about, as long I wear the pronged helmet and armour no one really questions anything."

Loki was confused. It was quite unusual for him.

"What are you doing here?" Frigga answered on the Midgardian's behalf.

"Loki, there is no one else who knows the paths of the Realms like you."

"The Bifrost-"

"Has been shut." Frigga answered and Loki looked between the two women, one real and one illusion, carefully.

"So what if I _am_ the only one who treads the ways of the worlds?"

It was the Midgardian who answered. "So if you promise to behave I'll spring you from here."

"Spring me from here?"

"You know, break you out of prison."

"And if I don't?"

She shrugged and smiled a thin crooked smile and Loki's hackles rose. "Then I go through every single thing you own, ransack your room and find a way anyway."

"Please Loki!" Frigga pleaded and Loki looked at the Midgardian carefully.

Calm, collected refused to show weakness. Clearly resourceful, probably trained by SHIELD one of the Black Widow's protégés, he knew that stance, that practised ease

Underneath that there was intense worry. Not for the world no, this was personal. Slight shift in her stance, her toes were twitching in her boot, nervous. Waiting.

Waiting for him.

It would be fun to get out of here. But if he was out there then Thanos could get to him as well.

What to do, what to do?

Oh, who was he lying to, the decision was made. He wanted out of this damn gilded cage.

"A trip might be nice this time of the year."


	7. Chapter 7

"So, how exactly do you intend on- what was it you said? Oh yes- 'spring me' from this place?" Loki drawled and the Midgardian grinned up at him.

He hadn't expected that. He'd expected coyness, cold stoicism not such unabashed mischief.

"Smoke and mirrors."

"Amusing."

"No really, smoke and mirrors."

She returned some time later with a sheet of glass and set it up against the wall at an angle, explaining the whole way.

"This will reflect the empty passage on that side which lets me do my work pretty easily. The guards should make a brief visit in about seven seconds before reporting back to duty at the Bifrost observatory." She took a gun out and Loki recognised it as a smaller version of the one that Agent had shot him with. His hand went to his sternum and rubbed the slight burn that had been left there. It had healed but sometimes he felt its phantom heat more than the injuries done to him by the green berserker.

'_You lack conviction'_

"You might want to step to the side." The Midgardian interrupted his reminiscing and he rolled his eyes but listened. The gun fired and he could see her muscles tense as she tried to stay in place, keeping it aimed at the barrier just long enough for it to break. The golden shimmer wavered before falling away and just like that Loki was free.

"Nicely done." He wasn't usually so free with compliments but she had just freed him after all.

"I know. Now come on."

"Just like that?" He stepped out of the hollow space that had been his home for the past year. "You know they're going to raise the alarms when they notice I'm gone."

"No, they won't." She pointed back at the cell and the golden shimmer of the shield was up again and behind it his image sat, reading. "Your mother is very good at magic."

"Yes she is." His voice softened.

"Well come on then, let's go."

"Where to?"

"We're crashing a party." Her face was split by a grin, all teeth and mischief and an answering smile grew on his own.

* * *

Thor looked around at his friends, gathered around him. Fandral, ready with a quip even though his brow was furrowed, Volstagg, grave and silent not even asking for a flagon of mead as Sif had done and Sif herself at his right hand loyal as ever. Even Heimdall stood ready to listen and Thor was proud that he had such friends at his side.

His plan was risky and dangerous, yes, but he could see no other way to save Jane from a wretched fate nor to keep safe the good citizens of Asgard. Malekith would come to them soon, to take back the Aether and they needed to stop him.

"What I am about to ask of you is treason of the hig-"

The door knocked, the sound resonating in the dark chambers. Thor readied himself for battle, in case the Einherjar were outside, Sif's hand moving to her own sword and Volstagg reaching for his axe. Only Fandral and Heimdall remained unchanged, the former choosing to relax further and sighing loudly.

"I think I know that is." He said but despite Thor's questioning glances he didn't elaborate simply gestured at the door and Thor opened it.

"Hello everyone, how's the little treason plan going?" Alice asked and without waiting for an answer she pushed in, followed by a cloaked figure.

"Lady Alice," Thor blinked in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

Sif's hand tensed around her sword. "Who's your friend?"

"Oh I was just in the area," Came a familiar voice and Thor stepped forward as the hood was dropped and Loki's grinning face was seen. "Thought I'd drop by."

"Loki!" Thor roared and shut up quickly as Alice whipped around with a glare at him.

"Sit down." She hissed and Thor stilled.

"I thought it was you." Fandral said leaning back in his chair, glaring at her.

"Still angry about-"

"Being played like a fiddle? Yes."

"If it makes you feel any better I wasn't really trying that hard." She threw out the words casually while Fandral bristled even more.

"How could that possibly make me feel better?"

"Well I just have a lot of experience in lying. Especially to men, they are just so easy." Thor believed her.

"What is Loki doing here?"

Alice looked at Thor, all surprise and shock and for a moment he believed it. "I thought that was the plan? Break Loki out of prison, rescue Jane and then rush away from Asgard."

"You-"

Thor stopped himself from saying anything. That _had_ been the plan.

Another knock on the door interrupted their little talk. This time everyone stood at arms and while they did so, Loki and Alice took the seats they had emptied.

"I'm not late am I?" Thor was startled to find his mother there. She was supposed to be in the healer's wing under Eir's care.

"Mother, you're hurt you shouldn't-"

"Is Alice there?" Thor stilled again as his mind went blank. What was Jane doing here?

"You're blocking the way." Alice called out and Thor moved, clearing his throat gruffly.

"Will someone please explain what's going on?" Sif said loudly and Thor and his friends agreed with the sentiment, hating being in the dark like this.

"Well I've basically rendered you all unnecessary." Alice smiled nastily and Jane's hand flew out to cuff her on the back of her head.

"Don't make people feel useless!" She chided and Alice rolled her eyes.

"Well it's hardly my fault they're inefficient!"

"I've suddenly remembered why I wanted to take over Midgard." Loki quipped and Jane's eyes went wide.

"You!"

"Me."

Alice laughed. "Take over Midgard, come on man, Phil was right." Thor's ears pricked, certain that she was referring to Agent Coulson. "You lack conviction."

Loki glared but it melted away as Frigga went to stand in front of him and nervously he rose to his feet. Thor was amused to see him ducking his head like he used to when he was in his hundreds'. He turned his attention to Jane instead taking her hands in his. She was so tiny, he'd never met anyone quite as small as her. How she managed to keep all that spirit tucked into herself he never knew and now she had the Aether in her as well.

The Aether. He'd forgotten about it for a moment.

"The Aether." He said and all eyes turned to him.

"First things first, we need to get out of here." Alice took over. "Frigga here has bought us some time and we do have a distraction ready and timed. For the most part we just need the rest of you to go on as usual and act normal."

"I am bound to report all treason to the Allfather." Heimdall said gravely.

"Well it's your lucky day because I'm not a citizen of Asgard so this isn't treason. This isn't an action against my own state, yes?"

"Agreed."

"Good. Now you all need to leave."

"We can't just abandon Thor like that." Sif protested.

"Well then take him with you."

"I refuse to leave Jane in such a state."

"You make it sound like I'm pregnant." Jane muttered and all eyes turned to her instantly. She flushed and cleared her throat. "I'm not."

"Alright here's the deal, the quicker we move the better. And we all know that you're all not coming with us. It'll be Jane, Loki, Thor and me, that's it."

"You'll need a distraction."

"We have one. Don't worry about anything, just make sure to make yourselves absolutely indispensible to Odin." Thor turned to her in surprise but it was Frigga who explained.

"What's going to happen next will go against Odin's orders. We'll need whatever influence we can use to make sure that the punishment for it doesn't cost you too much."

"Mainly because as Odin's heir, Thor is golden but Jane is not and I don't trust Odin not to take it out on her."

"And what about you?" Loki asked and Thor realised that was true as well. As the one behind all of this the consequences would be worst for her.

"I can take it. Besides it's not the first powerful person that I've pissed off. So you can all go now. You have deniability."

"How are we possibly supposed to deny our part in this?" Sif was outraged. She would never tolerate being portrayed as a traitor to him, that much he knew. Her loyalty knew no bounds. Indeed Thor was lucky to have such friends.

Who were being looked at like they were idiots. He wasn't exactly surprised that Alice and Loki weren't pleased with them, but that his own mother would do so was surprising.

"Is it that difficult to say that Thor called you but you were interrupted before you could find out exactly what for? That he was swayed by me blaming him for Jane's being all Aetherised?"

"The Queen-"

"Was only here briefly and you didn't get a chance to verify her identity." Jane said. "You were suspicious what with Loki being here but before you could investigate, Thor sent you off."

"See, even Jane is coming up with excuses. What the hell did you do when you were growing up?" Alice wondered.

"We didn't need to make excuses." A bristling Sif said and Thor's eyes turned automatically to Loki who smiled wryly.

"I did the lying for them."

"Well you shouldn't have done that." Alice chided him which was strange to see. Thor had never seen anyone do that except for his mother and she had always held the air of one who was very disappointed. "How will they ever learn if people keep coddling them?"

"It is dishonest and-"

"Oh shove it Sif, you don't lie because you sucked at it. That's what failures do, they console themselves by saying they never wanted to succeed at it in the first place." Alice rolled her eyes ignoring the dropped jaws. "Take the hint and leave already people, move it!"

This was not how Thor had expected the day to go.

* * *

Alice might have been unravelling a bit.

Admittedly she had no reason to be doing so, Jane certainly seemed fine and she was the one with the Aether in her, being chased by a millennia old leader of a species hell bent on destroying the universe but she was taking it well. Alice on the other hand wasn't. Not that anyone would notice it, she managed to hide it well no one thought she was having a panic attack because they were too busy being angry or frustrated with her or in Loki's case just plain amused.

But she was exhausted. Years ago she'd watched her friend's body being wheeled out of her house by the police, killed by her boyfriend and it was her face she kept on seeing now. If she knew then what she knew now she could saved her. She couldn't lose Jane as well.

This though, this was beyond what she was equipped to handle. She'd handled some very strange things in her work with SHIELD but it had never been so personal. Part of her wished Malekith was here so she could fight him, anything would be better than this wait, this slow process of carefully planning was exhausting in a way that a fight never was and she was drained. It was a good thing Jane didn't know what Frigga had found out about the Aether, how it would affect her slowly and steadily ripping her apart from the inside, signs that Frigga had told her to watch out for and she could see it happening already. There were times when Jane's eyes glazed over blue, the whites of her eyes glazing over black instead. It was just a flash, so brief Alice wondered if her mind had made it up, thinking over it too much but when Frigga shared a concerned glance with her as she left she knew it wasn't a hallucination. The Aether was slowly gaining on Jane and they need to get it out of her now.

"Not that I'm not enjoying this," Loki's drawl broke her out of her thoughts. "But mind filling me in on the plan as well? Or will you enlighten me while we're on our way to Svartalfheim?"

"Oh no, we're going to Stark Towers." Jane said flippantly and all eyes turned to her.

"What do you mean?" Thor asked.

"We need to go there." Jane was adamant and Alice was confused.

"Why do we need to go there?"

"Because I have a standing invitation to work there and I need their labs."

A long suffering sigh left Alice and she pressed her splayed fingers onto her face for some measure of comfort and turned to the heavens, whispering a brief prayer asking for strength. "Jane, as transparent as you are you need to be even more transparent and maybe tell us what the hell is going on!"

"Do you remember the quantum field generator?"

"The Soul Forge?" Thor answered and Jane shut her eyes for a brief second.

"It's like a physical pain when you say that."

"Yes the quantum field generator, what about it?" Alice asked. "You said it, transferred molecular energy form one place to another. Which didn't make sense to me then either, I mean it looked more like an MRI or something rather than transferring energy. And if it was transferring energy wouldn't that mean that the Aether energy could also be transferred out of you? It is essentially energy right? Or is it like some Star Wars Antimatter kind of stuff?"

"The...Soul Forge was calibrated so it only transferred a small part of the energy so that whatever the problem was, it could be visualised. Since the Aether is pretty foreign to everything human or even Asgardian it registered very strongly as a separate entity."

"So it could have taken it out of you?"

"If calibrated for it but it would also kill me and I don't want that to happen."

"What does this have with Stark Tower? Or Avengers tower as it's called."

"Look Erik sent me these blueprints of a device he'd been working on, he called them gravimetric spikes. The gravitational anomalies that we'd been experiencing were directly linked to what I now know to be the convergence and Erik postulated that the spikes would allow us to countermand the effects of these anomalies and stabilise the field a bit more."

"What does that have to do with anything?!"

Jane stopped and turned. "Alice, I'm going to Stark Tower because he has really great lab equipment and I need that so that I can do science stuff that allows me to lock in on the Aether and then get it out of me by using the current gravitational anomalies and manipulating them using the spikes Erik made to get it the fuck out of me." Jane never cursed. It was a habit ingrained in her by their father one that had never taken with Alice but Jane _never_ cursed.

Silence followed her statement.

"Why didn't you just say that before?"

"And what about containment?" Loki said dryly. "Once it's out of you it'll latch on to the closest living being."

"Not if we destroy it." Thor said and earned incredulous stares from both Alice and Loki and a very patronising look from Jane.

"With what?" Alice spat. "The whole of Asgard and your grandfather couldn't find a way to destroy it so they hid it away and you think _you_ can destroy it? What do you plan to do, beat it with you hammer?"

The way Thor suddenly cleared his throat and looked everywhere but at them made it obvious that that was exactly what he intended to do.

"You can't solve every problem just by hitting it with you hammer, Thor." Loki said with practised patience.

"You were there when Odin said it was fluid and ever changing, why would you possibly think smashing it would work?" Alice continued to berate him. "Do you also think hitting water with your hammer is a good way to destroy it?!"

Jane patted Thor's shoulder but didn't defend him. Then again, there was really no way she could have defended him at that point.

"So containment, you think Stark would have a way to figure that out?"

"I don't know."

"Why don't we just find the original container." Loki drawled.

"The original container?"

"Well I highly doubt it was just floating about in space before."

"It was another world," Jane said. "The abandoned factory we were at, it opened up some sort of portal, my phase meter went crazy and I got sucked into it. There were these two huge slabs of rocks and one was floating on top of the other, the Aether was in between them. It probably generated a field that kept Malekith from sensing the Aether."

"I need to see this container." Loki said.

"You aren't going anywhere," Thor said imperiously.

"Very well then, we'll just get the Aether out of your Midgardian and then watch as it destroys one of us instead."

"When we get back to Earth you guys go, get to London, see if you can figure something out." Jane said and Thor shot her a puppy look that she ignored. "And pick up Erik and the gravimetric stakes as well. And Darcy! Thor can probably fly me to Stark Tower or something."

"So I suppose this is the part where I come in." Loki said.

"Yes, what exactly do you need to get us to Earth?"

"We'll need a ship."

"You mean the speedboat with wings?"

Loki blinked. "Yes."

"The whole city will be watched we can't just-" Thor was interrupted by Alice.

"The patrols have a shift change coming up in twenty minutes we just need to borrow a ride."

"How do you know all this?" Jane asked, incredulous and Alice shrugged.

"They put up the roster outside the mess hall."

"Of course they did." Jane deadpanned and Loki burst into chuckles then, loud peals of laughter that reverberated in the dark space in the queerest of ways.

"Oh but this is just wonderful, the Nine Realms threatened by the Dark Elves that weren't supposed to exist, a mortal possessed by an artefact of infinite power that also wasn't supposed to exist and another mortal infiltrates the annals of Asgard's finest, in a gown."

He continued laughing and Alice looked at him speculatively.

"I didn't hit you that hard, did I?"

"Hit him?" Jane exclaimed and Alice twisted her mouth.

"Well I might have smacked him around a bit for New York."

"Oh. I'm so proud of you."

Alice beamed only to turn back to business in a heartbeat. "Come on, we have a speedboat with wings to steal."


End file.
